Media•on November 29th, 2010•Comments Off on Thanksgiving in the City’s Heart

Rain is pouring down on Cincinnati Heads are bowed against the wind and wet Children, off from school, are at the Freestore Giving food to the many who come inside And dry off, a worried look leaving their faces As children meet children and the box of food Changes hands, arms, and hearts. I watch the simple joy of people nurturing people At a time when caring seems like an orphan Left out in our driving and cold rain But no, this is not fair to those who are helping And being helped by a sunny feeling, a perpetual Smile breaks out from one person to another and Back to the new persons coming and going. Someone started a tradition of having the boxes of food Carried to the cars and buses for the people. The grey coldness of having to ask for food is lightened By the grace of carrying food for another person, a lost And now reclaimed essential human quality, rescued Just in time, just when someone realizes that carrying An empty stomach for oneself or family is a real load And, so, there is a genuine lightness that surrounds The person carrying the food and the person who, Having reached the car or bus, pauses and receives The gift, the treasure of brief friendship, the connection Of those embraced by this instant and perishable hope. The Freestore is a center for the lost and found and I was blessed to be at the door of the generous.